The real reason you should be budgeting

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Here's one thing I learned about myself, when I don't have a plan then minor setbacks can derail me emotionally.

I start to get down on myself for not doing more and I feel like I might fall further behind or fail to achieve a goal.

But in reality I have no idea. Minor setbacks rarely result in complete failure. I'm in my own head.

When does progress look like a straight line? NEVER.

If I need to go 500 miles in 100 days, a minor setback won't affect me if the larger goal is still on schedule. If my plan is five miles a day, I know I'll need to be around 50 miles through at the end of day ten. On the good days, maybe I do 10 miles. On bad days, only two. The plan helps keep me mentally checked in when my brain wants to check out after a bad two-mile day.